The Hearts of Men
by The Wanderlust
Summary: Something strangely ordinary happens to the Doctor. Why? Why now? He may have to face a few uncomfortable truths... (A Daydreamer713 story)
1. The Moving Mountains

The Doctor smiled, contentedly. River and Clara were standing a little away from him, leaning against a tourist guardrail, overlooking a steep valley. The two were watching in awe as the mountain range, spread before them across the valley, swayed in time with the breeze.

He turned away from his wonderstruck wife and friend to look at the TARDIS. She'd given him an odd mental nudge that he wasn't used to. He watched her, frowning. She gave him another mental nudge, making him feel as if he should be noticing something very important. He looked around, confused, but then the light on her top flashed ominously, and the Doctor was aware of a nagging pain in his chest...

* * *

_Okay, hello. I'm Daydreamer713, to anyone who read my story _The Receiving End_ and _Castling Into It_. If you did, you are amazing and I love you. If you did, you might also have noticed that I haven't updated them in FREAKING FOREVER so you know that starting a new fic while working on that one probably wasn't the best idea on my part. By the way, I am so so so sorry for that. In my own defense, when I thought of this story I just started writing and it's already nearly done, I hope. I have like 9 pages on my iPad. So never fear, this story will definitely be finished, and so will the others, but I literally have 10 separate writing projects that I'm working on right now._

_So, yes. Please please PLEASE review because feedback (positive or negative) makes me infinitely happier and spurs me on to write more. Thank you!_


	2. The Sisters of the Infinite Schism

_Beep-beep... beep-beep... beep-beep... beep-beep..._

The Doctor woke, but his eyes were still closed. His first instinct was to panic, but common sense ruled that it wasn't the best plan, so he didn't. He allowed his other senses to explore the environment before he made it clear he was conscious.

He didn't know where he was, but an orangey glow through his eyelids told him that the place was brightly lit, and when he breathed he smelled chemicals. _A lab?_ he thought, jumping to worse-case scenario, then dismissed the idea. Wherever it was, it was soft and warm, not consistent with most alien laboratories. He could feel that several hours had passed since the last moment he remembered. Someone was holding his right hand.

He opened his eyes. The lids were heavy and resisted his will, and the light was brighter than he had anticipated, so he shut them again.

"Doctor?"

He knew that voice, but for some reason his brain was taking longer than normal to process it. He squinted slightly to allow his eyes time to adjust to the white fluorescent lighting. A blurry figure with bushy hair stood over him. He blinked, and relaxed slightly. _River._

As his vision cleared, he looked at his surroundings. It was a small room, lit from above with white lamps. The chemical smell was strong, and still there was that steady double-beeping noise. He appeared to be lying in a bed, covered with white sheets, and he was wearing clean, white pajamas. _A... hospital ward?_ The beeping noise seemed to be coming from a monitor which faced away from him at the bedside.

Further down the bed past River was Clara, with a look of immense concern. The Doctor's gaze returned to his wife, who shared Clara's concerned look, both of whom were directing it at himself.

"Hello, sweetie."

River had spoken again. It was not in her customary flirty and joking tone. Her voice was full of worry, and care. The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, but the words came out groggily and slow.

"W-what happened?"

Clara bit her lip, and River blinked, releasing his hand.

"What?" he repeated, feeling his mind, body and speech speed back up.

It was then that a third woman entered the room. She wore a pure white robe, and a head cover of the same color, and the Doctor recognized her face as the same one to whom he had delivered River after she killed him and brought him back. Now he knew where he was: the abbey of the Sisters of the Infinite Schism, the greatest hospital in the universe. _A hospital._ The Doctor sat up in bed.

"Good, he's awake," said the Sister, entering swiftly. She began to examine the Doctor, who didn't like it one bit.

"Oi, what are you-"

"Hush, boy," she shushed him, and he opened his mouth again, but River placed her finger in the way. The Doctor slumped back, annoyed. He sometimes forgot how young he really looked.

The Sister peered critically at his eyes, felt for his breathing speed, and bent his wrist to check his pulse, and all the while the Doctor was squirmy and insubordinate.

"Everything normal," the Sister told him.

"I'd be more reassured if I knew what went wrong in the first place," he said, indignantly. River shifted nervously at his side, and he looked at her curiously.

The Sister thoroughly ignored him. Instead, she picked up a clipboard which had been lying on the bedside table. She took out a pen as she brought it up to read. The Doctor guessed that it was a patient file.

"Name," the Sister said, more of an order than a question.

"The Doctor," he said, looking resigned.

"Doctor who?"

He rolled his eyes, and River gave him a little pat on the shoulder. "Just the Doctor," he said.

"Species," said the Sister, looking equally exasperated.

"Time Lord."

"Planet of origin."

"Gallifrey."

"Current planet of residence."

"None."

She glared at him. He sighed, thinking.

"Earth."

"Age, and units."

"Twelve hundred, Earth years."

At that, the Sister looked at him in scrutiny, obviously not quite believing him, but she moved on.

"Marital status."

"Married," said River for him, smiling very slightly.

"Spouse name?" the Sister inquired of River.

"River Song."

"Extended family?" The Sister had turned back to the Doctor, but River answered again.

"Yes."

"Names and relationships."

"Amelia Jessica Williams and Rory Brian Williams, mother and father-in-law."

The Doctor became very interested in his hands.

"Other family?"

River looked at the Doctor, and answered again.

"None living."

The Sister appeared unfazed as she went on, "Existing medical conditions?"

"No." The Doctor frowned. Never once in his 1200 years had he been asked that, and he wanted to know why. "What happened?" he repeated finally.

The Sister looked at him matter-of-factly. "You had a heart attack."


	3. Disheartening

The Doctor rewound that phrase in his head to make sure he'd got it right.

"A double heart attack, to be exact. We were made aware of your... unique... biology, by Professor Song."

He nodded numbly as the Sister left the ward.

River gave the Doctor's hand a small squeeze, and then led Clara out of the ward as well, leaving the Doctor to slump, depressed, into the mass of pillows on the bed.

_How can this happen?_ It wasn't even a matter of difference between humans and Time Lords - his species were prone to heart attacks as well. The Doctor placed a hand to his forehead, thinking. Back to basics.

Heart attacks were caused by a lack of blood and/or oxygen getting to the heart, which could be caused by not getting enough physical activity. But no, that didn't make sense. Time Lords required just a quarter of the oxygen humans did and could use all of the oxygen they inhaled. Plus, heaven knew, the Doctor did an awful lot of running.

Just the simple science of it was befuddling him.

Another thought popped into his mind, but he dismissed it. _That can't be it._ But the thought nagged at him until he was forced to acknowledge it.

_Heart attacks can also be caused by emotional stress..._

But he wasn't under emotional stress. Was he?

If he allowed himself to admit it, losing the Ponds had been quite a blow. But was that really what was at play here?

Another nagging idea crossed his mind. He tried to dismiss it, but it forced its way into a thought.

_I'm old._

Older, perhaps, even than the average Time Lord, though it had been common belief that the main reasons for deaths among the Time Lords were the Time Wars - namely, the last one. Many Time Lords never lived past their first few regenerations thanks to the wars. Some might even have considered the Doctor lucky. But the oldest among them had been Rassilon and the High Council, some of whom had lived the whole of Time Lord history... nearly a billion years. Then again, they'd nearly all gone mad in the end.

And yet, had he not as well?

Finally, another still more daunting question occurred to the Doctor.

_What now?_

How would River and Clara cope? Would they watch him worriedly, as if even then he lay on his deathbed? (Not that he wasn't used to it - he had gotten quite a bit of that from the Ponds after America.) And what if it _did_ happen again, and nobody was there to help him that time? What if it didn't? Would he be staring over his shoulder for all eternity, waiting for death to claim him, not from his worst, most dangerous enemies, but the failure of his own body?

All these questions, and multitudes more, plagued the Doctor as he lay slumped in the hospital ward.


End file.
